Closing the Winter Finches

Reports have been coming in the past week--very exciting reports. It looks like White Winged Crossbills are going to have a big year in New York...they are being seen in roving bands all over the Adirondacks, and all the way down to Pharsalia (near Ithaca). According to Matt Young, crossbill expert, the birds are gathering now and may nest in the state later this year. Like Red Crossbills, they use their specialized bills to feed on the pinecone seeds, and so their presence is connected to the boom/bust cycles of that cone crop. Often, the White Winged Crossbill is a very rare bird in NY State, but this year it looks like the exception. This caps what has been an excellent year so far for the winter finches, and it's the last winter finch to see on my list.

No surprise, then, that I spent three days last week up around Ferd's Bog in the Adirondacks, looking for both the White Wings and trying again for the Three Toed Woodpecker. I drove up in the afternoon, and immediately went for a drive on the backwoods Moose River Plains Road, where a lot of WW Crossbills had been seen the week before. The first 24 hours I was there it was either drizzling or raining, which wasn't a help, and although I saw a pair of Common Loons with a chick riding on it's mother's back, I missed the crossbills. Moving on, I slept in my car at Ferd's Bog, and walked in at 5am, hoping to hear or see the elusive Three-Toed Woodpecker that has been seen there recently. Since there seems to be just one female bird there right now, it's not a certain proposition by any means (this is the fourth time I've been there to look for it). Three-Toes, I'm told, can also be notoriously silent, and seeing her in the tangle of deadfalls around the bog is a difficult trick and involves some luck. Of course, the longer you spend looking the luckier you tend to get, so I put in three hours that morning. Nothing but beautiful habitat and a few other bog birds, so I headed out to Moose River Plains Road again. Unfortunately, my luck stayed the same, and although I did get a good look at a nesting Lincoln's Sparrow, as well as Magnolia and Blackburnian Warblers, I didn't have any crossbills. Crossbills can be hard to see because of their nomadic, unpredictable behavior--they seem to rarely stay put--which is sort of the opposite problem as the Three Toed Woodpecker, who I know is in Ferds Bog, but is reclusive.

The weather cleared towards the end of the day, so I was hopeful for a better chance the next day before I headed home. I slept at Ferd's again, and was in the woods at about 5:30am. In this situation the call is as likely as seeing the bird, so I had my recorder running in 5 minute segments the entire time. I had just heard a soft call that I thought might be Three Toed, when I heard a chatter overhead. I pointed the microphone up at the same time, and realized that I had a group of WW Crossbills flying over! That lasted a few seconds, and then I had the woodpecker call again, which I also recorded. I was a uncertain about the quality of the recordings, but I was glad to have had a little luck, and headed home. Back in Brooklyn I isolated the calls and amplified them, and sent them out to Matt Young and Tom Stephenson for their opinion. Unfortunately, the woodpecker call was faint, and I'm afraid it's not conclusive enough to count (the call is similar in quality to a Pileated Woodpecker, and although this was a soft call and I'm pretty condfident was a Three Toed, I don't think the recording is definitive). The crossbill call, though, was definitely White Winged Crossbill, which is a great addition to the year list.

How Not to Chase

I have three "silver bullets" this year in the form of frequent flyer airline tickets. I've been saving them for rarities that might show up upstate, so that I can get up there quickly and save the 14 hour round-trip drive to Niagara Falls or Dunkirk Harbor. Two days ago a Franklin's Gull showed up in Dunkirk Harbor...I couldn't do the drive because of business. Franklins has only been showing up every two or three years lately, so I figured it was time to fly. I got my tickets and was at the airport with my gear for my 8am flight (the earliest I could get)...by 10:30 I was in Dunkirk, at the same spot the gull had been seen. I only had about 3 hours to look, but I figured that if the gull were there it was there and that would be enough time to see it.

The beach where the gull had been seen was covered with gulls, but no Franklins. I scoped the adjascent beach...nothing. I worked the stone breakwater with the scope from several angles, and though there were some Caspian Terns and Great Blue Herons, I couldn't see any hooded gulls. I checked the harbor, where there were a number gulls again, but once more no Franklins. I ran into several other people looking and no one had seen it, and I called some upstate birders who hadn't heard of any sightings that day either. Looked like I missed it.

I finished my allotted time back at the original spot, and had a Bald Eagle soar over and spook off all the birds. That seemed to be my cue, and I was back in NYC by 5:30. I had a business meeting, and got home around 9. Checking my email, I saw a post that in fact the Franklins had been seen, both in the early morning and again at 5pm. If I had just had a little more time, I would have seen it for sure. There have been no reports of it so far today, so now it may really be gone. So in short, my first silver bullet was a miss.

Cattle Egrets and Crossbills

A cattle egret was seen near Lake Cayuga associating with some cattle yesterday, and I figured to get a few species at once and chase that bird at the same time. Cattle Egrets are seen each year at Jamaica Bay, but I figured the bird-in-the-hand approach was best, and combined with the other targets I could make a little more progress in the year.

The egret was spotted at the home of a veteranarian, whose wife initially saw the bird hanging out with their cows. Cattle Egret are common in the south, but are pretty uncommon in NY...they look a little like Snowy Egret, but with a yellow crown, breast and bill, and an overall stockier appearance. They associate with cattle and eat the insects that the cows stir up. I left Brooklyn around 2pm, planning on getting to the spot by 7, but then hit an hour-long, construction-fueled traffic jam. I pushed on as fast as I felt was safe, and got to the house at around 7:45, as the sun was beginning to set. I was afraid I was too late, and at first the bird was difficult to see...it was in the back of their pasture in some tall grass, and I was staying on the road in order not to trespass or disturb the owners. After a few worried minutes I spotted a white something by the cattle, and there it was. I got a few blurry and distant but recognizable photos and was getting ready to go, when the owner returned home. He and his wife were very gracious and invited me onto their deck for a better view...just around then the egret soared up (I got some flight shots), and then perched on a telephone pole and posed for some nice portraits and satisfying looks.

I stayed in Ithica and got up at 3:45am the next morning to look for Red Crossbill in Pharsalia. Crossbill expert Matt Young had given me a lot of great advice, and I went to a spot he had recommended. It's a road that I had been to in the winter several times, looking for that same bird without luck. This time, though, I heard the birds fairly quickly, and for the first hour of daylight heard four or five separate birds and was able to make a recording of one. I sent the recording to Matt later that day and he confirmed it, and thinks it might have been a Type 4, which would be less common for that area. [Crossbills are currently broken into 9 groups, types 1 through 9, and may at some point be split into several separate species].

I was planning on going on for more birds (I still need a photo or recording of that Black Billed Cuckoo!), but had a change in my work schedule and had to come back early. Nonetheless, as I've learned many times this year, no chase is a guarantee, and two new birds is a good result. In fact, people looked for the Cattle Egret the next day and didn't see it...it's gone off to some other place and may never be seen again.

Pelagic Day Trip

I've been spending a good part of my birding time on Long Island lately...it's the place to be for Terns and other sea birds. The sea watches have been good, and I've seen all the expected species for this time of year by watching from the shore. What I haven't done is gotten photos of most of them, because they are often a mile or two out and moving fast. Since there are no official pelagic birding trips between February and August in NY, I decided to improvise and go out on a party fishing boat. These boats are probably the cheapest way to get out on the water...$60 for a full day...and if you go on a weekday they are not particularly crowded. I went on the Trade Winds II out of the Captree marina, aftering reading a post on the NY Birding messsage boards by John Gluth who had a good experience. The captain, Paul Risi, is very friendly and also very interested in birds, and he was extremely obliging. The boat is 78' long and can carry several dozen people, but today it was about 15 fisherman and me, plus a couple of mates and the captains dog Duke. The fisherman all fish from the lower deck, so apart from a seasick passenger or two I had the upper decks to myself . I used to get seasick a lot as a teenager, so now I use a prescription patch called Scopoderm (scopolomine) which keeps me barf-free.

There was a five foot swell due to hurricane Bertha, but it was manageable. Shooting flying birds from a rolling boat is challenging and I enjoy it, but its another reason to be diligent with sea-sickness meds. Keeping your eye in a telephoto lens while the boat pitches and rolls amplifies the whole experience. Within a few minutes of getting to sea we had a Greater Shearwater come in, and I got a few shots as it cruised stiff-winged past the boat. The shearwaters all have a distinctive flight, using the micro-winds created by the waves to glide just a few feet above the water. I was excited to have one close in. The next bird was a black, sparrow-sized creature flitting above the water...Wilson's Storm Petrel. These birds are often seen in rafts of several hundred, but today I saw twenty in ones and twos. I was hoping to see their feeding behavior...they patter their feet on the water while hovering just a couple of inches above the surface. Sure enough, when we got a little further out I saw various Storm Petrels do just that. The boat made numerous stops and starts, moving to different fishing spots, and along the way we also had a number of Corey's Shearwaters fly by. We built up a fair number of terns around the boat when some bait was being tossed over, and I was hoping a Parasitic Jaeger might drop in to hassle them for food. No Jaeger, but I did have a Roseate Tern briefly join the raucous Common Terns.

Overall it was a great day, and I added three new photos to my collection. I had two Greater Shearwaters, about twenty each of Coreys Shearwaters and Wilsons Storm Petrel, and one Roseate Tern. At this point I've photographed or made an audio recording of every bird except Black Billed Cuckoo, which I heard but didn't record. I'm hoping to keep it up for the rest of the year...it'll be a great collection to look back on and remember this big year.

Barred Owls and Stilts

Summer is here in full force and the birds are mostly still up in their breeding territories, so in addition to my trips in Cupsogue I've been making some little "clean up" trips for birds that I can still see. On Thursday I did a short drive up to Bedford in Westchester, to the Mianus River Gorge. Tom Burke had reported 8 (!) Barred Owls there, and I was happy to hear about such an accesible way to see them, especially after missing them in the Adirondacks. The area on the way up is full of VBGs (Very Big Houses) - one of those super-wealthy enclaves tucked away above the city. I half expected to get pulled over for breathing the air up there, but it was quiet as I pulled up to Mianus. The Gorge is a private preserve, only open from 8:30 am to 5 pm, but the owls have been active during the day, and so I got there around 10am. I hiked about a quarter mile into the woods, feeling like I could easily miss an owl in the dense pine and deciduous mix that lines the river. I was looking at tree trunks as well for any whitewash, when I caught a little movement and saw a big bird fly over the trees and perch a little ways off. I called to it a couple of times, without any luck. I stood there hoping something would happen, when I heard a "hoo, hoo" above me...I looked up and there was an adult Barred Owl checking me out not thirty feet away. It seemed huge, and with its all-black eyes it was an intimidating presence. I got some photos despite the very dim light, and as I was I heard a screeching behind me, which turned out to be a first-year Barred Owl perched nearby. In contrast to the adult, the first year still had down in its plumage, and a fluffier stuffed-animal appearance. It called continuously for several minutes, perhaps hoping for some food from the adult. All told I spent about an hour there before heading back to the city.

Today (Saturday), I got a call at 7:30am from Shane Blodgett...Black Necked Stilt at Jamaica Bay! I'd chased Stilt twice this year, and this was probably my last best chance. I had a previous commitment until about 9:30, but by 10 or so I was at the West Pond at Jamaica. At first the bird was not apparent, but after a few minutes I took another scan of a large flock of geese and there it was. Even though Stilt are impossibly long-legged, they are still much smaller than a Canada Goose, so this one had probably been blocked by its larger, less elegant avian brethren. We got fairly close and I got some shots through my scope, which were still a little fuzzy due to the heat haze. I joined Sy Schiff and when we were done looking at the Stilt we checked the East Pond as well, but aside from a lot of Mute Swans (a couple of hundred, probably), and spotted sandpiper, there wasn't much else to see. In a week or two this spot should start to heat up with "fall" migration shorebirds (yes, it's July, but the early bird gets the fall migration, I guess)...meanwhile, the Stilt was a nice bird to tide us over until then.

Double Duck Drive

Friday morning I was checking my emails when I saw that a Black Bellied Whistling Duck had been reported in Broadalbin, about and hour north of Albany. I grabbed my bag and started driving...I was in Broadalbin at about 12pm. For the next three hours I worked the lake by Broadalbin, looking for a spot to see the water, and trying to scope as much territory as I could. I've said it before, but trying to find a bird on a lake that has been almost entirely privatized (even the local park was for "residents only"!) can be very frustrating...the phrase "property is theft" somehow keeps running through my mind. Marxist ideology aside, I did my best but didn't have any luck, and drove home. I got into Brooklyn around 8pm. Just as I pulled up to my house I checked my email...a revised post showed that the duck was not in fact on the lake, but in a pond about a mile away.

I'd scheduled the next two days for Cupsogue to look for Arctic Tern and pelagics, but I really wanted to see the duck, too. After a little hemming and hawing I set my alarm, and at 3:30 the next morning we were out the door and headed back for Broadalbin. By 7:30 we were at the pond watching it eating with a flock of Canadian Geese. I took some photos, and we turned towards Cupsogue. By 2pm I was on the flats with Shai Mitra, who found not one but two Artic Terns. We had a great time studying them for a couple of hours, and then went on to seawatch where about a dozen of us saw Manx, Coreys and Greater Shearwaters. It was the longest day of the year, and we used the it to the fullest.

We stayed at a "cheap" hotel in Riverhead (cheap is relative in the summer in the Hamptons), and I got up early the next morning to try for the third time for Blue Grosbeak at Calverton. Third time (and some good direction from Tom Burke and Shai) was the charm. It took about and hour and a half, but I finally heard a faint call, and as I got closer saw it was the bird. I was able to get some recognizable photos, and then walked out of the brushy habitat and picked a half dozen ticks off my pants and rubber boots (this is one of the ticky-est spots I've ever seen...Monkey had gone into the brush for about 5 seconds on the previous trip and I pull over a dozen ticks off him).

We finished the weekend at Shinnecock looking for Wilson's Storm Petrel and scanning the ocean for other pelagics. We had a couple of more shearwaters (two Great and one Manx, as far as I could tell), but no Storm Petrels. It was a beautiful day, and the time passed quickly...it was mid-afternoon before we knew it, and we headed back to Brooklyn. On the way back I checked my email again...Tom Burke had seen the Black Bellied Duck in Broadalbin, and had noticed a yellow band on its leg. Turns out it was an escape from an aviary about five miles away...not a vagrant from Florida or Texas, and not countable for the year. Still, I wasn't dissapointed...we'd put the effort in for the bird, and that's really all you can do. Next time I'll check more carefully for leg bands, though.

Whiteface, Bicknell's Thrush

Since before I even started the big year, I had been told by several people that one of my big year requirements was going to be a pilgrimage to the mountain top: specifically, to the top of one of the several mountains in the Adirondacks where Bicknell's Thrush breeds. The time had come (Bicknell's arrive in late May/June), so I packed up the car with my girlfriend Jessica and with Monkey we headed north.

I was working Friday to Sunday on a shoot, so we left Sunday afternoon and got up near Whiteface Mountain around 8:30 and checked into a motel. We ate and were asleep by 10:30, and then up at 3:15am. We were at the base of Whiteface at 3:30, and started hiking the 5 miles and 2500 foot incline we needed to cover to get to the top. We were hiking a road that you can drive, but only after 9am, and I didn't want to miss our only opportunity because we got there too late. We started with headlamps, but first light hit by about 4:15, and by 4:30 we were starting to hear bird song. This is one of the tough things about birding this time of year...first light is very early, unlike in January when it's still dark at 7am. About 1.5 miles in we heard a thrush, and then another and another! I started to record, and we started to talk about getting to turn back early, when I realized that the call was not Bicknell's, but Swainsons Thrush. Chastened but undaunted, we soldiered on up the mountain. We heard many birds on the hike, but it wasn't until we were about 500 feet from the top that I finally heard the Bicknell's call. Just as I started recording, the bird flew across the road! It was perched briefly, but I managed to get a shot off with my camera. It was thrilling to see the bird as well as hear it, and we happily hiked the last leg to the top of Whiteface to enjoy a panoramic view of the Adirondacks with the mountaintop all to ourselves. We took a minute to get a photo of Monkey, who at the time was probably the highest elevated Border Terrier in North America. On our way back down we had two Bicknells singing in same spot, and got some more recordings. We made good time back down the mountain, and were back at the hotel by 10am.

We tried for several other birds on the trip, including Three Toed Woodpecker at Ferd's Bog and Spruce Grouse, but no luck. Surpisingly we didn't see a single Ruffed Grouse (which I've seen but need a photo of), nor did we hear a Barred Owl (which I've yet to see), so the Bicknell's was the only new bird for the trip. Nonetheless, I think we all felt satisfied (and tired!) on the way home.

Cupsogue

The last week I've been going out to Cupsogue, on the eastern end of Long Island. Along with several other inlets on the South Shore, Cupsogue is a great area to see terns, and also a good spot to sea watch. Sea watching, of course, is just what it sounds like...sit on a beach (preferably in an elevated spot) watch the water for birds. This time of year you might see several types of Shearwaters, Wilsons Storm Petrel, and maybe even a Jaeger. Of course there is a lot of seeing nothing, too, but you can do worse than sit on the beach and look out over the ocean these days.

The flats at Cupsogue are very cool...mud flats are exposed on the bay side at low tide, and lots of shorebirds are attracted to them. Dowitcher, Red Knot, Willet, and other sandpipers are common. The terns are mostly Common Terns, but every once in a while another bird seems to magically appear in the flock. In the last week I've seen Roseate Tern, Royal Tern, and most surprisingly (and with Shai Mitra's help!) a Sandwich Tern. Arctic has also been present several days this week, but I haven't seen it yet...I'm sure a little persistance will pay off eventually with that bird.

Even when there are no "special" terns around it's great to just wade around out there and photograph the birds. I was about 8 feet from a group of Short Billed Dowitchers, and had a great time taking photos. Also got photos of Salt Marsh and Seaside Sparrows, both of which are in the grassy marsh that abuts the flats. It's sunny and hot and I'm using sun tan lotion for the first time this year, and it's been really enjoyable to be at the beach and be looking at great birds.

The Tern Defense

I went out to Jamaica Bay and Breezy Point today. It started off misty and rainy, and then turned into a flat, cool and hazy day. I got to Jamaica Bay around 8am on a falling tide, and there were lots of shorebirds. Also in the inlet at Big Egg Marsh (part of Jamaica Bay, just south of the visitor center) were hundreds of horseshoe crabs, apparently mating and laying eggs. They ranged in size from salad plate to serving platter, and as I walked along the beach I flipped over the ones that were lying helpless on their backs (if horseshoe crabs have backs). After the recent debacle with the fishery's overuse of these creatures, I figure they can use any help they get. The shorebirds were mostly Semipalmated Sandpipers, as well as Ruddy Turnstone, a few Red Knots, Sanderling, and a single White Rumped Sandpiper (a new bird for me). No Whimbrel, but it's really more of a fall bird--like many of the shorebirds I'm looking for now, it will be more common in the fall migration than the spring.

At the West Pond of Jamaica I worked over the marshes and tidal flats. The "best" birds were a Tricolor Heron, Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, and (out in the open for a few seconds!) a Clapper Rail. A couple of Willow Flycatchers were calling along the path, and there were a few terns plunge diving out in the bay. I've been checking the Glossy Ibis each time I go for White Faced Ibis, but no luck so far...I'm also hoping a Sora will show itself as one did last year, but still no sign of it, either.

I made a stop at Plum Beach at low tide for Black Skimmer, but just found some Least Terns and more horseshoe crabs, so I decided to go all out and hike out to Breezy Point, one of the primary breeding areas for Black Skimmer. Breezy is difficult to access: basically a private community that has co-opted an entire penninsula at the end of the barrier islands of Long Island. I parked in Fort Tilden and started the long hike west...I've never made it all the way to the point, but I figure it's at least a 45 minute hike on the beach. There were no people on the beach, but there were plenty of birds. First gulls, then Common and Least Terns, and then Black Skimmer, in groups of 20 or more. I saw about 75 of these odd birds, including one resting in classic Skimmer fashion on the sand with it's body flat and head laid out like a dog. The birds also make a kind of doglike barking call, and a few flew by noisily and then dropped down and skimmed the water with their giant orange bills.

There were also lots of Sanderling, and a few Piping Plovers, a single Semipalmated Plover, and a Least Sandpiper. After walking and watching for about an hour I turned back, and headed a little closer to the dunes. I noticed a bunch of terns on the sand there, and got a little closer. As it turns (terns) out, it was a nesting colony. When I was about 100 feet away, the entire colony of several hundred terns lifted up into the air...I had accidentally set off the alarm! They swarmed forward and one after another terns dive bombed at me, loudly sqwaking their displeasure. Not realizing what was in store, I took a couple of photos of the attacking birds, planning to move off momentarily. Well, the terns starting squeezing off shots of their own, and before I new it I was splattered with tern poop. I beat a retreat and assessed the damage...shirt, pants, camera, bag and binoculars were all hit. I was laughing as I waded out into the water to wash off what I could, chastised and baptised by the terns.

Quick Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm working to get up posts from the last two or three weeks...spring migration was great, but hectic! I should have a number of updates and posts soon.